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John Buchan

Biography of John Buchan

John Buchan

The novelist John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (1875-1940) studied at the University during the 1890s and published poetry and essays in the Glasgow University Magazine. He was awarded an LLD in 1919 and was MP for the Scottish Universities, 1927 to 1935.

The son of a Free Church minister, Buchan was a pupil of Hutcheson's Grammar School and in 1892 won a John Clark Bursary to study at the University. He was said to have been deeply influenced by the teaching of Gilbert Murray and Henry Jones, but he did not graduate. In 1895 he left the University with a scholarship to study at Brasenose College, Oxford.

Buchan became a famous novelist, barrister and Unionist MP. In 1935 he was created Baron Tweedsmuir of Elsfield and appointed Governor-General of Canada.